


Wings of sorrow

by GreenPhoenix



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Community: hannibalkink, Gen, M/M, Wings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 06:43:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5365274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenPhoenix/pseuds/GreenPhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: In the fifties Will is a winged circus attraction kept in squalor by Chilton. Hannibal takes a keen interest in the beautiful man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Hannibal Lecter looked at his newspaper. It was a bright day in Baltimore, the air clear and lovely.  
Hannibal thought he should go see Fredrick Chilton’s circus.  
There was supposed to be a winged man there.  
An angel from heaven, chained to cheap commerce.  
This he had to see.  
His last patient for the day would have to wait.

*  
He dressed in a burgundy-colored suit with a tie with a stag on it. His aunt, lady Murasaki would approve. Mischa always talked of stags.  
The circus tent was bright red, and the smell of sawdust and horse manure was almost deafening to his sharp senses.  
He could also smell Bedelia’s Parisian perfume like a cloud of delight.  
He saw Chilton enter, dressed in a silver lame suit, looking both sharp and unspeakably tacky.  
“Welcome..see the wonders of our time..the winged man..the beautiful atheles, the elegant magician, the blind singer, the funny clown..leave your cares at home.”  
Bedelia smiled. He thought she would enjoy this.  
*  
Abel the clown was doing his tricks, and Bedelia giggled gracefully.  
Hannibal sighed.  
Abel’s scent of booze was overpowering his senses, it was cheap gin, not anything Hannibal himself would imbibe.  
The gorgeous gymnasts Alana and Margot got him interested, they were dressed in sequined tights and it clung to their tones bodies well.  
“Oh you would like them,” said Bedelia sharply.  
“You are the most beautiful woman here,” said Hannibal.  
“Shh,” said Bedelia as she watched the magician Tobias and his not so lovely assistant Franklyn make doves appear.  
*  
“Behold the winged man,” said Chilton, and Hannibal smelled his bad aftershave.  
“He’s a wonder..”  
Hannibal watched as a young man with dark hair and haunted eyes entered.  
His wings were clipped so he would not fly, but they seemed real.  
He unfolded them and the crowd cheered.  
Hannibal smelled the young man’s fear and his natural scent, which was sweet and strong.  
Bedelia grabbed Hannibal’s arm in awe.  
“It’s beautiful,” she said.  
Hannibal could only agree.  
He could see the young man under him, wings flapping as he sucked the man’s cock, and tasted his sweet seed.  
On stage the young man flapped his wings, and looked sadly at Chilton, waiting for his cue to leave.  
Hannibal knew he had to see him, and posses him utterly.  
*  
Bedelia went home and Hannibal ventured backstage.  
The wagons were small, and he saw Alana with her tights ripped, revealing her bruised legs, kissing Margot openly.  
Abel sat by his wagon, drinking his gin.  
Tobias yelled at Franklyn, and the man looked hounded.  
So where was his lovely angel?  
*

“What do you want?” asked Chilton in his smelly wagon, silver lame suit lying discarded as he drank his cheap whiskey in his undergarments.  
“To see the angel,” said Hannibal.  
“What angel? We are all freaks here.”  
“No. What you call freaks I would call wonders.”  
“Perhaps.”  
“I can pay you if you let me see him.”  
“That’s the spirit man. Pay up and you can do what you want with him.”  
“Such as?”  
“What do you think? I’ve had people pay to fuck him. They like freaks I guess."  
"You can have him sucking your cock while singing the national anthem if you like.”  
“I only wish to study him,” said Hannibal, disgusted by Chilton’s proposal. He would have the man come to him of his own free will.  
“Whatever you like.”  
“What’s his name?”  
“You care? It’s Will.”  
“Will,” said Hannibal, rolling the name on his tongue with reverence. “ I like it.”

 

To be continued


	2. Fly away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannibal makes plans and Will needs to fly.

Chilton led him to the tent where they kept the animals. The angel was chained to a small space, his proud wings no less impressive up close.  
“Will,” said Chilton. “This man wants to see you. Let him.” With that he left.  
Hannibal looked at the man. He was undernourished, and his wrists were chafed from the handcuffs.  
“What do you want?” Will asked.  
“To see you,” said Hannibal. “To study your wings.”  
“Go ahead. If you want to fuck me you can.”  
“No,” said Hannibal. “I just want to see you.”  
Will nodded as Hannibal took out his sketchbook and drew him complete with wings.  
He then looked closer at the wings, careful not to touch them too closely.  
Will looked at him though his lashes.  
“I’ll bring you a home cooked meal next time,” said Hannibal.  
“You’ll came back? They usually don’t.”  
“I will, my angel,” said Hannibal and resisted the urge to kiss Will.  
*  
Hannibal returned with some steak and potatoes, alongside liniment for Will’s wrists.  
Matthew the athlete had previously looked after him, and brought him some oils.  
“How long have you been with him?” asked Hannibal.  
“Five years,” said Will.   
“I trust you haven’t enjoyed it.”  
“What’s to enjoy? I’m a freak and he treats me as such. “  
“You don’t have to stay with him. You could come with me.”  
“I can’t.”  
“Your wings will grow back fully if left alone.”  
“I suppose so.”  
Hannibal considered his options. Chilton would leave soon, so he had to act fast.

*  
“He’s mine,” said Chilton. “I won’t sell him.”  
“Then I shall take him anyway,” said Hannibal.  
“How do you propose to do that?”  
“Do you want to find out?” asked Hannibal and smiled his deadliest smile.  
“I guess I will then,” said Chilton flippantly.  
Hannibal began his work. No one had seen him enter and no one would see him leave.

*  
“Come with me,” he said to Will.  
“Where to?” asked Will. “He will try to find me.”  
“He won’t ever hurt you again,” said Hannibal and unlocked Will’s cuffs with the keys he’d retrieved from Chilton’s pocket.  
“Did you..set me free?”  
“I did,” said Hannibal.  
He took Will to his home in his car.

*  
Will slept for days in Hannibal’s house. Hannibal fed him when he was awake,  
“Do you want to fly?” asked Hannibal.  
“I could..where to?”  
“You have a family?”  
“No.”  
“You can stay with me.”  
“Forever?”  
“As long as you like my angel,” Hannibal said gently.  
“If you want me, you can have me.”  
“Only if you want to.”  
Will smiled. “I do,” he said.  
*  
He flew around the house, and then returned.  
Hannibal fed him pieces of Chilton.  
It tasted better than expected mused Hannibal; of course he was marinated in whiskey.  
At night Will’s wings enveloped Hannibal warmly in their bed. Hannibal was right, he tasted sweet and his cries of pleasure were music to Hannibal’s ears.  
*  
The circus was taken over by Alana and Margot. They ran it well.  
Abel laughed about Chilton’s suit being donated to goodwill.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this prompt:AU in which Frederic Chilton is the holder of a small traveling circus. One of the circus' most popular exhibits is a living winged man he bought/captured. One of Hannibal's hobbies is cryptozoology, so when he hears about Chilton's show coming to Baltimore, he gets curious and goes to see it.  
> Bonus points  
> \- Will is kept caged in a tent with animals. His wings are clipped, so he cannot fly away. Chilton keeps Will handcuffed during the show.  
> \- Please include as much characters of the actual show as you want! Some ideas (but feel free to skip or change): dancing/gymnastics duo Alana and Margot, athlete Matthew, illusionist Tobias (and his assistant Franklyn?), clown Abel, animal trainer Peter, lion tamer Randall, chiromancer Beverly (she either can have magic skills or can be just good at reading people), jugglers Jimmy and Brian, singer Reba, tight rope walker Abigail, knife thrower Chiyoh, etc.  
> \- Other performers sympathize Will and bring him extra blankets/food/lotion for his scuffed wrists. More bonus points if Matthew has a little crush on Will.  
> \- All the decadence. Fake splendor, peeling golden paint, moth-eaten velvet curtain, tiny living wagons and patched tents, performers look so mysterious and majestic on stage but are dirt poor. Some of them drink, some of them are miserable, they have nowhere else to go.  
> \- Hannibal pays Chilton to look at Will after the show. He wants to explore Will's phenomenon and he studies the structure of Will's wings, measures and draws them. Will doesn't like being prodded but Hannibal is surprisingly polite.  
> \- Will looks underfed so Hannibal brings the food next times he visits.  
> \- Eventually Hannibal wants Will for himself.


End file.
